The Lost Continent
The Lost Continent follows Darkness of Dragons, and precedes The Hive Queen. Summary Everything is about to change. Blue the SilkWing is content. Life in his Hive is safe; he loves his family; he has enough to eat. And Pantala has been at peace for as long as he can remember — SilkWings and HiveWings live and work together in harmony, and because they stay vigilant, no one has seen a dangerous LeafWing in years. Now that Blue's sister, Luna, is undergoing her Metamorphosis, Blue knows things are going to change. Luna will have her wings and her silk, be assigned a partner and a work order, and move to another Hive. A few days later, Blue's own wings and silk will come in. But nothing could prepare Blue for what happens when Luna's wings start to grow. Suddenly his world is turned upside down, throwing him into dangers he never knew existed. Pantala isn't as peaceful as it seems, and Blue isn't safe. Whether he's ready or not, it's time to adapt — and fight for his life. Dedication ”For Mum and Dad - I love you, and thank you for being nothing like these dragon parents!” Prophecy Turn your eyes, your wings, your fire To the land across the sea Where dragons are poisoned and dragons are dying And no one can ever be free. A secret lurks inside their eggs A secret hides within their book. A secret buried far below May save those brave enough to look. Open your hearts, your minds, your wings To the dragons who flee from the Hive. Face a great evil with talons united Or none of the tribes will survive. Plot Prologue The prologue begins with Clearsight flying through a hurricane. She has two visions in her head, one of where she waits the storm out on a safe island, and another where she made it to the Lost Continent. The latter, to her, is more important, and she ignores the vision of safety, because if she goes there and waits out the storm, she will arrive in the hurricane's aftermath, which is full of dead dragons, but if she flies through the storm to warn them, they will survive if they believe her. As she is flying she sees a hut pass her, splintering to pieces. Finally, she reaches Pantala. Upon her arrival, two dragons emerge from the trees. One is a brown-and-green LeafWing, the other a primarily gold SilkWing. The SilkWing knows a bit of “Dragon", and Clearsight gets basic communication across that they need to evacuate quickly. She warns them about the hurricane that is coming, and after the dragons discuss her in their language, they agree to evacuate their territory. They bring her to their home, where they announce to their two tribes her arrival. Once there, she witnesses many new futures. Finally, as they fly to escape from the storm, she tells SilkWing that she comes from a land called Pyrrhia, and he tells her that this is Pantala. Part 1: In The Cocoon Blue is thinking about his society and how perfect it is. He also thinks about Luna, his sister, who is about to start her Metamorphosis. The next day, he wakes up when Luna bounds across the web and starts shaking him. Luna keeps annoying Blue about her Metamorphosis, which is that day. In response to her excitement, Blue reminds her that some SilkWings (most likely he was referring to himself) won't get their wings until later and that today was only the day that Luna would begin metamorphosis. Luna then promptly upends his hammock, dumping him onto the webs, and proves to Blue that she can outsmart him when it comes to silk studies. At this point, Luna is already beginning to show signs of metamorphosis. They say goodbye to Silverspot, Luna's mother, who says she will try to be there for Luna’s Metamorphosis, but her mistress might not let her out of spite. Blue notices a strange expression cross her face, and Blue guesses that for some unknown reason she thinks she will never see Luna again. Blue climbs the silk webs with his sister, Luna. They make it to the hive entrance and they wait there. On the wall, Blue sees a mural of HiveWings and SilkWings happily co-existing, as well as posters warning about vigilance, the woes of disobedience (for SilkWings) and the threat of LeafWings. Luna begins to talk brashly about the Leafwings, and Blue warns her of her recklessness. Later, they make it to the security entrance and a HiveWing named Hawker asks for their names. Blue shows him his right palm (carved with a little "B" for him, a big "B" for his mother, Burnet, and an "A" for his father, Admiral) as well as the bronze cuff on his left arm, this accessory inscribed with his school's name. When Hawker gets to Luna, he remarks that it’s Luna's Metamorphosis today, and comments that Luna will get a new wrist cuff after her metamorphosis, which makes Blue slightly melancholic. Hawker lets them enter the hive, even speaking a couple words of luck to them, which the both of them find terribly amusing after being out of earshot. They walk to the open market of the Cicada Hive. Luna wants to go to the Sugar Dream, the shop with the best honey drops, but Blue protested and said to go to Droplets, as SilkWings weren't welcomed in the Sugar Dream. They decided to go to the Sugar Dream because it was Luna’s Metamorphosis day and she wanted to do everything she loved while she was still a dragonet. When inside the store Luna asked for two honey drops, but the shopkeeper, Chafer, rudely says he needed to serve his other customer, who happens to be the only other customer in the shop. Two HiveWings later enter the shop. Weevil, one of the HiveWings, asked to touch Luna's wingbuds. She jumps away, irritated at his actions, to which Blue jumps in and offers to let Weevil touch his wingbuds instead. After Weevil and his friend leave, Luna asks again for their honey drops, but Chafer says he needed to serve Lady Scarab, the other customer, first. Lady Scarab interrupts, saying she would like Chafer to serve Luna and Blue, to which the salesdragon refuses. She lets out a horrible smelling scent in response to this. Chafer is horrified and served them their two honey drops. He begs Luna and Blue to leave and doesn't even mind if they didn't pay him. Lady Scarab advises Blue and Luna to choose a more SilkWing-friendly shop next time. Once having left, Luna discusses with Blue about the HiveWings, saying that it seems unfair that Silkwings don't have a say. Blue deliberately ignores her comments. They notice that her wrists were glowing a little too brightly for what was normal when from what they'd seen from Swordtail and his sister, Io, neither of them had glowing wrists. Blue suggests to take her to a doctor, but Luna refuses, saying she didn’t want a HiveWing doctor to poke at her. They walk then to the Mosaic Garden. Afterward, they go to the Cocoon near the bottom of the hive, where all SilkWings go for their Metamorphosis, a process in which they spin a cocoon and emerge with their wings. The Structure itself bears many weavings, a feature resulting from newly emerged SilkWings making a weaving as thanks. Blue tries to distract Luna from her nervousness by asking what weaving she is going to make. She replies that she isn’t sure yet. Many bored-looking guards arrived, and Blue jokes that Luna is popular, but he is worried because of the unusual number of HiveWing guards. Swordtail, Io, and Burnet come, looking worried at Luna. Luna starts her metamorphosis, and flamesilk starts coming out of Luna's wrists, (a rare gift inherited by her missing father, Admiral.) Io notices the flamesilk and guesses that Blue has flamesilk too. HiveWing guards see the flamesilk and come to take Luna. Io warns Blue about how the HiveWings will capture him next and tells him to run. Blue doesn't want to, but Io carries him away. They try to not be noticed, but the guards see him. Queen Wasp mind controls all the HiveWings and tells them to capture Blue. They are cornered, but Io uses her silk to help Blue escape. Blue loses sight of Io and runs from the HiveWings. A dragon Blue thought was a SilkWing helps him hide. The dragon's name is Cricket . Blue realizes she is a HiveWing. They talk about the mind-controlled HiveWings, and flamesilk. Blue suddenly feels woozy and collapses. Cricket says his wristband probably injected him with a toxin to make him feel dizzy and faint and therefore easier to catch for the HiveWing guards. Then Cricket unscrews a lamp that has flamesilk in it, using the flamesilk to cut the wristband. Blue soon passes out from the toxins already in his bloodstream, waking up to Cricket urgently shaking his shoulder. Blue and Cricket hide in the passageway Blue came from to avoid the soldiers coming into the library. After they leave, Blue makes sure that the soldiers are all gone from the area using his antennae. While doing so, he slowly comes to the realization that he has fallen in love with Cricket. They continue to converse about flamesilks, and Cricket eventually decides to help Blue escape, rescue Luna, and free Swordtail. Part 2: Out of The Hive Cricket and Swordtail fly all the rest of the night, with Swordtail carrying Blue, swooping low when the moon shows, just to make sure they're hidden from the HiveWings. Later on, the trio fly within sights of Wasp Hive, and decide to find somewhere to hide. After a brief search, they find a hole that seems to have no bottom. When they slide down and start to explore, they come across an underground lake with a rope attached to an object in the center. Blue wonders who was in this place before them, and why they would need a rope if they had wings. After walking a bit farther, Blue sees a cavern with supposed firelight, which he is afraid contains flamesilk. It turns out to be a scavenger-like creature. It ends up being scared off by the dragons, and afterwards they take a break while Swordtail sleeps. After a rest, the three wakes up and continues their journey. Swordtail is now himself again, and the trio have an argument about the true nature of HiveWings. Unfortunately, since the stimulant has worn off, Swordtail cannot carry Blue anymore. Swordtail suggests that Blue should climb up the wall, even with the thought making Blue nervous. As Cricket tries to come up with a plan, Swordtail warns Blue about falling in love with Cricket, but he replies that he believes it was too late already. Cricket consults the two for her plan, which is to lift Blue up into a crevice so he can wait the day out there. They react with apprehension about another day being wasted, but they eventually agree. After Blue reaches the hole, Cricket curls up with him and they discuss the Distant Kingdoms (Pyrrhia) as a possible place to flee to, even though Blue thinks that it isn't really real. Suddenly, they hear two HiveWings fly by on a patrol, but they fly away after a short stop. When night falls, the group starts off towards Wasp Hive. Swordtail goes ahead to scout out the Hive, and Cricket lands next to Blue so they can walk together. Blue notices that most of the paint that Cricket disguised him with has fallen off, showing some of his true scales. The two hurry as fast as they can to Wasp Hive, and on the way Cricket mentions a bright moon-like comet that passed by half a year ago. As they near the Hive, Blue notices many greenhouses surrounding the base of the Hive. Swordtail comes back from scouting out the Hive and reports that the main door is closed, with guards possibly inside watching the door. They try to come up with solutions, and Blue suggests hiding in one of the greenhouses. They find one with a sign saying it is property of the queen and not to enter. There is a silk barrier covering the doorway, but after they destroy it Swordtail begins to recreate it using his silk. When Cricket attempts to explore further into the greenhouse, Blue hears a sudden shriek, who he thinks is Queen Wasp. Blue rushes forward to turn himself in, but is caught by another dragon who ties him up with vines and props him against a tree. Cricket is in a similar condition, and Blue notices that their captors aren't HiveWings nor SilkWings, but instead a trio of LeafWings. Swordtail comes to see what the commotion was, but the three LeafWings soon tie him up as well. A male LeafWing wanders off to check for more intruders and soon comes back to report that no one else entered. A tall female LeafWing with a system of pouches expresses surprise at a HiveWing working with two SilkWings, but a younger female with the same pouches scoffs at this, saying that HiveWings don't make friends out of SilkWings. Blue tells them his name and Cricket's name, but Swordtail refuses to reveal his. The female LeafWing tells Blue their names, hers being Belladonna, the young female's being Sundew, and the male being Hemlock. Blue tells them that he is looking for Luna, but that he doesn't know where the flamesilks are being kept. Belladonna, Hemlock, and Sundew are surprised at this, and Belladonna tells Blue that she knows where the flamesilks are, but that in exchange for their help, Blue had to steal the Book of Clearsight from the temple. After telling Belladonna that he wanted to discuss it with his friends, Blue tells Cricket that he was sorry he dragged her into this situation. She replies, saying that she was excited about all the things she was discovering. They discuss how the LeafWings might kill them, and Blue says that they had to either help the LeafWings or escape from them. Swordtail says that he thinks the LeafWings are eavesdropping on their conversation, to which Belladonna admits. Cricket writes in some dirt that they should pretend to agree and then escape later, so that the LeafWings wouldn't know about it. Finally, all three of them agree to steal the Book of Clearsight for the LeafWings. However, their plan falls apart quickly, as Sundew insists on going into the Temple of Clearsight with them, and she is disguised as a SilkWing using her pouches, vines, two leaves and some flower dye. Cricket uses the dye to repair some of Blue's disguise as well, and they exit the greenhouse with Sundew. The three go through an opening in the wall made by lifting a glass pane out and set off for Wasp Hive. Cricket knocks out the two guards in front of the door using a flower from one of Sundew's pouches. After they enter, Sundew immediately claws a wood carving of Queen Wasp, ruining the statue. They make their way towards the temple while Blue tries to make Sundew act more like a SilkWing in fear of her arrogance leading to them being caught. Sundew takes out the two guards outside the temple entrance using a blowgun to shoot darts. She does the same with the other guards stationed inside the temple, and they finally enter the last room in the temple, where the book rests inside a case placed on a pedestal. When Sundew tries furiously to remove the book from the pedestal, the Librarian reveals herself and tries to stop her. The Librarian looks at Sundew for a moment, then turns to Cricket. She then rips off her veil, revealing white eyes that show the queen is controlling her. The queen rages at the fact that she can't get into Cricket's mind, and Blue tries to protect Cricket by turning himself in. Sundew barrels into the Librarian and manages to subdue her after a fight. Blue spots a key on the ground, which the Librarian dropped in the battle. He uses it to unlock the case and retrieve the Book of Clearsight. Cricket drops two bullet ants on the Librarian on Sundew's request, which causes the queen to lose control because of the pain inflicted by the ants, but not before telling them that there are HiveWings surrounding the temple. The Librarian thanks them while Sundew gives her a pain reliever, and she says that she can help them, and that someone else should be able to read the book after all this time. She leads them through a secret panel to the balcony, where they see that every single HiveWing in the Hive has been mind controlled and surrounded them. Sundew tries to take them out using things in her pouches, but there are still too many left. Blue points out that they could escape through the skylight, and the Librarian, Sundew, and Cricket fly outside, and they hold a silk rope for Blue to climb out on. However, just then the queen takes control of the Librarian again, who cuts and releases the rope. Blue tosses the Book up at Cricket and tells her to escape just as he falls among the HiveWings. Part 3: Metamorphosis Blue is dragged through the Hive tunnels by five dragons dispatched by Queen Wasp. Blue guesses that the other brainwashed subjects are off searching for Cricket and Sundew. Blue wonders if they got away and if they are alright. They put him in with all of the other flamesilk SilkWings and he meets his father, Admiral. Admiral tells Blue about his letters to Queen Wasp. It is also discovered that all of the Flamesilks have divided up into different factions that all hate each other. Admiral introduces Blue to all of the different dragons in the flamesilk cavern, with each dragon he meets telling him to hate the other dragons there. After a day, Lunaawakens from her cocoon and the brother and sister have a heartfelt conversation. She is then introduced to Admiral. She then tries out her flamesilk, which results in one of Admiral's stack of letters to the Queen Wasp being caught on fire. After Admiral handles the flame silk with his bare claws, it is revealed that SilkWings after their metamorphosis can handle flamesilk without being burned. Blue then tries to think like Cricket and formulate an escape plan. After walking around the cave, he discovers a hole in the wall. The next morning, Blue goes back to the hole and sticks his arm through it. He then feels something grasp his arm, which then turned out to be Cricket, accompanied by Sundew and Swordtail. The former smashed the hole open, thus creating an escape route. Luna and Blue then told Admiral that they could escape, however, he was too afraid to risk the wrath of Queen Wasp and he was about to call for the guards before Danaid insulted Admiral and started an argument with the other flamesilks to create a distraction. They then went to a cave that led to the ocean where they all read The Book of Clearsight and discovered a letter written to her descendants. They found out that her predictions only lasted about two hundred years, the last one being nine hundred years in the future. It said to protect the trees. The last prediction of Clearsight was dated over a thousand years ago. After realizing that Queen Wasp lied about all the knowledge she had and that the Book said that Clearsight wanted Queen Wasp to rule the tribes. These were all deemed as false when the predictions ended before the Tree Wars. After the discovery, Luna and Swordtail went out to test out Luna's new wings. They were soon spotted by a HiveWing patrol and started fighting. Luna tries to use her Flamesilk, but it wraps around her and the wind blows her into the sea. Blue tries to help, but he begins his Metamorphosis. Cricket leads him into a cave where he weaves his cocoon. As he weaves his cocoon, he confronts the fact that he is in love with Cricket. Luna wakes up on wet sand. When Luna tries to stand up, she found out that her back ankle was twisted and her wing is bruised. She doesn't know how far away she is from Pantala, then Jerboa II approaches her. Luna fiercely asks who she is, and Jerboa responds that she's glad that she speaks Dragon. Luna asks where she is, and Jerboa II introduces herself. Luna discovers that she traveled over to another continent. Jerboa II takes Luna to her hut so her wounds can heal, and Luna explains she needs to get back to Pantala. Later, Moon and Qibli enter the hut. She describes Moon as the, “Clearsight looking dragon,” and Luna explains to them that they need to stop Queen Wasp. She learns that Moon can see the future but not as well as Clearsight could. She tells them that they need to figure out how to get her home especially Moon, whom Luna calls “vision dragon”. She feels triumphant when she realizes that Moon could be the "secret weapon" the LeafWings and SilkWings need. Trivia * The prefinal cover was discovered on December 25th, 2017. * This is the third book in which the title is above the protagonist on the cover, the others being The Dragonet Prophecy and Moon Rising, which are also the first books of an arc. * When Clearsight arrived on Pantala, the dragons there spoke a different language and very limited "Dragon." Tui stated that in current times, they speak "Dragon," with limited knowledge of the old language. * This is the fourth book (out of five total) in which the protagonist on the cover does not have an intimidating or negative expression on their face, the first being Moon Rising, the second being Darkness of Dragons, and the third being Darkstalker (Legends), with the fifth being The Hive Queen. The expression is thought to be worry, sadness, or fear. * Tui has stated that Peacemaker will not have a large role in the storyline. * A good amount of this book, including the prologue, epilogue, tribe guide, and many other pages, was leaked on Amazon prior to the release. * There is a Barnes & Noble exclusive edition with the dust jacket printed on both sides. The overside is the traditional cover with embossed logos and quick excerpt on the back, and the underside is a poster with the Wings of Fire logo printed on the upper left corner and Cricket added to the picture. * The Lost Continent book cover depicts Blue as having wings. However, he doesn't enter Metamorphosis until the last chapter and is never revealed with wings in the book. Tui recently revealed she was aware of this before the cover was made and Joy originally made a few sketches of Blue without his wings. The reason why he is portrayed with wings is because Tui thought they were too pretty to be left out. * This is the first book to have a dust jacket printed on the inside of the cover. It is also the second book to have a dragon on the cover that is a future protagonist, the first being Moon Rising. * Despite the fact that there are little to no trees in Pantala, a few small ones can be seen on the ground in the book cover. * This is the third book to take place during the time of Talons of Power and Darkness of Dragons, as the last chapter of the book takes place three days before the epilogue of Darkness of Dragons.